Meet Henry ‘Cirkut’ Walter, the Canadian behind Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’

Unlike other high profile record producers like Pharrell Williams and Dr. Dre, Henry “Cirkut” Walter never wanted to be a star. The Halifax native discovered this one night in 2009, when his electro band, Let’s Go to War, opened for the eclectic agro-music-mutt artist M.I.A in Toronto. The taste simply wasn’t there. Instead, he says, he found his calling in the binary of sound – the techno script that creates the core of most pop music. It was this passion that landed him and his fellow bandmates an unlikely production credit on Britney Spears’ Circus album and soon after, at the side of production wizard Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald. This Sunday, Walter will attend his first Grammy awards, nominated for his work on Katy Perry’s ubiquitous pop behemoth “Roar.” He also, for the record, co-wrote its biggest snub, Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.”

Driving around in the Hollywood Hills mere days before the awards show, Walter admits he’s struggling to get excited about the nomination. “It feels amazing. It’s a great achievement for sure,” he says. “To be honest though, I don’t rest on that. I need to keep working to get the next Grammy nomination.”

It’s this mentality that bonds Walter to Gottwald – the man behind nearly every chart topping pop hit in the last decade. If you’re looking to blame the same-ness of Top 40 pop, it’s the doctor and his mentor, the enigmatic Swedish songwriter Max Martin, that are to blame. Their resume reads like an almanac of number 1 singles from 1999 to 2014 — if you can hum it, they probably wrote it — and over the past three years Walter has been primed as the heir apparent. Speaking of his relationship with Gottwald, Walter offers “It turned out [Luke and I] connected and really have a strong chemistry. We really work well together; We complement each other.” But, as quick as he is to praise his mentor for broadening his production pallet, he’s equally chaffed to point out that everything they do is hard work. “Most days we’re up until four in the morning. It’s fun,” he says. “This is all I do. This is all I’m good at so I figure this is not the time to take a vacation or chill out. This is a huge opportunity for me —- what I’ve built and where I’m at now, for me to let up or slow down would be stupid. I’ve got to seize the opportunity.”

When Walter is asked, either by the likes of Perry and Cyrus or the average curious Los Angelino, he usually says he’s from Toronto. It doesn’t matter that he was born and raised in Halifax or that he spent time in Montreal, for Walter, the Ontario capitol is home, even if he’s only there one or two times a year. It’s a trick that has served him well when it comes to creating a good “vibe” with an artist — the intangible that lets him coax performances like the chorus to “Wrecking Ball” out of Cyrus.

“Vibe means being pleasurable to be around but also being serious about your business. You don’t want to be working with someone you don’t feel comfortable with,” he explains. “These people may seem like ominous figures but they’re human beings too. You might get to know these people and realize they’re similar to you; they’re not just these people that are portrayed in the media.”

With two of 2013’s biggest pop smashes in his back pocket, not to mention the deluge of hits he’s helped create in his three years under Gottwald’s tutelage, Walter sees the near future as an opportunity to define the musical zeitgeist. “I definitely try to push the envelope — make something that sounds like no one’s ever heard before. Or, if it does sound like something that someone has heard before, make it the best one of those,” he laughs, making casual reference to the similarity between Perry’s Grammy nominated single and that of Sara Bareilles’ “Brave.” “I can’t say it’s a certain sound that makes songs hits. You got to just learn to adapt to the times and always come up with a fresh sound. Not keep recycling the same thing.”